Christmas eve ruined by vandals

January 3, 2013

Joe Ward and his wife, Adelle, came to Boundary
County to enjoy the good life and spend time
with their grandchildren after his retirement
from a career as a math teacher in big-city
schools. After what happened Christmas eve,
they're beginning to wonder if this piece of
heaven is all it's cracked up to be.

Joe, who gave up retirement to step in and teach
math at Bonners Ferry High School when they
desperately needed a teacher, had parked his
2008 Honda Accord in a pull out in front of
their home on the Westside Road December 23
because the drive to the house was iced up.

The car was well off the road in a pull-out, not
posing any kind of hazard or blocking traffic.

On December 24, Joe and Adelle got dressed up to
come into town to enjoy the Christmas
festivities and attend Christmas eve church
services. They drove their Blazer out the frozen
driveway to Westside Road, intending to take
both rigs to town.

Their
plans were abruptly shattered when they spotted
the shattered red lens of the Honda's busted
tail-light scattered across the snow. Instead of
a peaceful evening in church and a nice
Christmas eve, their first in Boundary County,
the rest of their afternoon was spent filling
out reports with a sheriff's deputy, arranging
for a tow truck and filing an insurance claim.

In addition to the tail-lights, both of them
shattered, vandals had smashed the windshield on
the driver's side, making the car unsafe to
drive, and ripped out the drivers side mirror.

Nothing was stolen from the vehicle ... it
appears that whoever is responsible did what
they did out of sheer meanness.

"Why would someone do this in such a calculated
way?" Joe asked. "I wonder how they would feel
if someone did this to their grandparents' car?
I'm out the deductible and I lost Christmas eve.
I imagine that while they were doing this, their
mommies were making nice-nice for them for
Christmas."

To add insult to injury, Joe mailed off the
final payment on the car December 27.

Anyone who may have seen suspicious activity in
the area or who has information on this act of
vandalism is asked to call the Boundary County
Sheriff's Office, (208) 267-3151, extension 0,
and help bring the person or persons who did
this to justice.

"The individuals responsible need to be
apprehended and make full restitution for their
crime," Joe said. "The perpetrators and their
parents are in our prayers."